London Borough of Waltham Forest
Head of Finance (Closedown)
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Salary: PO10 £68,784 - £72,399
Contract Type: Full Time/Permanent
Working hours per week: 36
Application Deadline: 14/9/2026
Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC
Reference: 2278
About Us:
Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.
We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.
London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.
The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.
About the Role:
The Head of Finance (Closedown) leads on the delivery of the organisation’s end-to-end closedown process. The post holder will lead:
- the closedown process; and
- the non-capital side of the Statement of Accounts.
The post holder must be a technically capable Accountant, who can take responsibility for the closedown process, including stakeholder management and coordination of the timetable. They must possess the technical skills to produce accurate accounts, produce relevant notes, undertake quality checks for consistency, and make sure that the organisation is compliant with the CIPFA Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom.
We are a Home Office–licensed sponsor; however, for this specific role we are not able to provide Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. To be considered, you must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship.
[Click here to download the Role Profile](https://fs-filestore-eu.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Waltham_Forest/govRoleProfiles/Role Profile - Head of Finance Closedown - 2278.pdf)
Key Responsibilities:
- Acting as lead for the organisation’s closedown process, including setting the timetable, engaging with stakeholders across the organisation, implementing soft close, and coordinating working papers.
- Overseeing closedown activities, including completion of accrual forms, reserve drawdowns and provisions.
- Leading on and taking ownership of the non-capital side of the Statement of Accounts and working with the Head of Finance (Capital) to produce the Statement of Accounts.
- Coordinating the grants register.
- Ensuring integrity of financial information and compliance with audit requirements.
- Leading on engagement with the organisation’s external auditors, and coordinating the progress of audit, including responses to audit queries.
- Feeding into financial reports to Committees, for example, in relation to external audit progress and the Statement of Accounts.
- Coordinating ledger control and ensuring that an effective process for cyclical review is in place.
- Coordinating balance sheet reconciliations.
- Assisting with the production and presentation of complex and diverse financial information to members and other senior stakeholders, that informs service and corporate decision-making.
- Undertaking specialist project work of a complex nature, preparing reports, representing accountancy services on working groups, including some external groups, and providing financial management and related expertise as and when required.
- Providing support to other areas of Finance, as directed by the Chief Accountant.
- Acting as deputy for the Chief Accountant as and when required.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Qualifications and Requirements:
- Fully qualified accountant (CIPFA, ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or part qualified with a demonstrable plan to achieve full qualification within 9 months.
- Evidence of post-qualification continuing professional development.
Terms and Conditions:
The below terms and conditions apply to this role:
- Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
- Satisfactory DBS check;
- Continued professional body registration;
- As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.
How to Apply:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
- Promoting equality of opportunity
- Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
- Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
- Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.
Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.
To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.
We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.
For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.
Contact Information:
If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Mohammed Khaled Ahmed at mohammedkahled.ahmed@walthamforest.gov.uk.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.
Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.
Fraud Awareness Notice:
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).
We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.
If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.
If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to: fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location